Nanners are off the Needles

Awhile back I went through this phase where I started a whole bunch of new things. The issue with this of course is that it feels like nothing ever gets finished because you knit on this or that, here or there and end up with something worked on and some other thing worked on and still another thing worked on but nothing finished. Then I tend to go back and get frustrated and maybe frog a few things but ultimately at least finish a few things. So, finally I managed to finish another thing to talk about.

Hey, remember awhile back when I dyed some yarn? Then I started knitting the Nanners pattern? Well, I finally have a completed pair of socks.

It doesn't seem to matter what I do, the photos of this yarn just aren't as nice as real life. Plus the colors look much more garish than they do in real life.

The pattern, which is written by the lovely Wendy Johnson was written toe-up but I chose to knit it from the top down because I didn't want to have to do a short-row heel. I don't think they fit my feet quite as well and I personally don't think they look quite as nice. Of course, this was before I purchased Wendy's new book and found that there is a way to knit a traditional heel flap heel from the toe up.
But, it did allow me to put a lovely picot edge on the top of the sock rather than the ribbing it called for.

So, I suppose I had better give you...

The specs:
The Yarn: Kroy Sock, in whitecap. Dyed by me with Easter Egg dye. 2 skeins
The Needles: Bamboo DPNs size US2
The Pattern: Nanners, as mentioned (and linked in Ravelry) above.
The Recipient: Me.
Notes: Like I said, I knit these from the top-down rather than toe-up as the pattern is written and I knit a picot edge instead of ribbing.

Oh, I also used DPNs instead of the two circular needles the pattern calls for.

The results: Love them! If it weren't so warm and humid outside I would definitely have these babies on my feet 24/7.

Crochet Project

The other day I mentioned my crochet project and said that I would post a picture of it but then I wandered away and forgot all about it.

Okay, that isn't true. I wasn't feeling well so I basically laid in bed feeling like crud. I didn't forget though and so, I bring you, the long awaited Crochet project.


Oh, I'm sorry. You can't tell what it is? Okay, does this help?

Here it is pictured next to my beautiful Camelbak water bottle. Now, I went to a sporting goods store to buy this bad boy and I spent a good deal more than I would usually pay for a water bottle with the intention that it would last much longer and I would use it all the time. Especially as I try to be a healthier person and drink more water.

Well, I do use it all the time and I absolutely love it. But... (you knew that was coming, didn't you?)

I like my water cold. I pour refrigerated water from my Brita pitcher into the bottle. Often with ice but the issue is that the ice melts pretty much IMMEDIATELY. I hate that. Then the water is warm right away.

What does this have to do with my crochet project?

Aha! It's a water bottle cover. I'm hoping it will keep the bottle from sweating everywhere as well as keeping the ice from melting in 5 minutes.

We will have to wait and see if it actually works. I see that they now sell the stainless steel ones though and insulated stainless steel ones so we will have to check that out if it doesn't work as well as I hope.

In Which I 'fess up.

Anyone who isn't a first-time reader of this blog will probably realize that I'm not always entirely forthcoming with my list of projects. That's because I tend to pick up something and set it aside willy nilly, without actually finishing it.

I do eventually go back and finish most things although there is the occasional frogging incident. But today I decided that I should mention a couple of things that I have been working on.

Firstly, I finally purchased a copy of Wendy Johnson's new book. Socks from the Toe Up. I love it and I especially love that there is a heel that can be done toe up that looks just like a traditional top down heel. That's what really holds me back from knitting toe-up socks so I am anxious to try it. I went stash diving and came up with some lovely chocolate colored yarn to knit a pair of socks to try out this heel. I know these will be wonderful staples when they are finished but I'm already a little sick of knitting plain old brown socks so I'm telling myself that they are chocolate colored to make them more interesting to knit. So far it seems to be working although being bored with the color before the first heel is turned does not bode well.

Here's the first one though. It's coming along and will soon be ready for the heel turn.

A friend (some say an extremely good friend to do this) was going out of town so she loaned me her beautiful spinning wheel while she was gone for a good month. I of course spun up everything I could get my greedy little hands on, including some beautiful fiber she had dyed. This is a lovely sock blend that contains some bamboo. Since I spun this very first on the wheel and there is some definite learning curve, it's not perfect. Thick and thin in some places and mostly pretty overspun. I still think it's beautiful and I wanted to use it for something but it wasn't a very big skein because it was only half of the 4 ounces of fiber so I looked through the ever useful book 101 One-Skein Wonders. I found a pattern called the Little Ruff which is a beautiful ruffled neck warmer. I think it will look very nice this fall and not just warm my neck but be a very nice accessory so I cast on almost immediately.

As you can see, I'm nearly finished. It's quite addicting to knit your own handspun. Entirely too much fun. I still have the other half of the 4 ounces that came out to be closer to sock weight so eventually I'll try to find some use for that as well. (Possibly with that beautiful One-Skein Wonders book.)

Today though? Today is Tuesday which for me means Crochet. Maybe we'll talk about that tomorrow.

My "death" socks

Today I'm having a kind of irritating day. Dealing with other people and laundry facilities is just one of the "joys" of apartment living. But I promised a picture of the socks I received that "killed" me in the Sock Wars. I got this little box and inside were two little packages of tissue paper and a card. I have put the card somewhere. I'm not exactly sure where right now. The socks got opened first just because I wanted to make sure that this box was what I thought it was.

It was. Here is all of what was inside. A really cool nail file, a room spray and a little lotion from Bath and Body works and an absolutely gorgeous pair of socks.


Closeup? Okay. Here you go:

They are the Barcelona Pattern from the Sock Wars and I think they are absolutely gorgeous. I'm very, very happy with them. They fit very well too.

Don't worry, I'm taking comfort (stupid laundry debacle) with the card I received in the mail yesterday.


Yes, that is hard-pressed to not cheer me up!

Maybe tomorrow I will find the time to show you what I'm knitting. This is a knitting blog after all isn't it?!

Have I made you wait long enough?

So, I finally received the Socks in Progress and took what is possibly the world's worst picture of it before I mailed them off to the next knitter. It's just the yarn and it does absolutely no justice to the colors at all.

It's actually quite pretty, blues and greens kind of. I'm so sad that the picture didn't turn out. I usually take one with flash and one without to make sure it comes out okay and I didn't this time and of course it's already mailed.

Of course before I could get to work on it, I managed to get "killed" off with some beautiful socks so I will have to have a picture of those for tomorrow.

Sock Wars

So, Friday May 15 the patterns were posted. My team, Team St. Cloud Knitters had planned to meet up that evening. We met at Panera Bread. By that time, I was at the heel turn. (I had cleared my afternoon so I was basically able to knit all afternoon.) Also, side note. That was the first time I've ever been to Panera Bread and I LOVED it!

My plan was to finish the socks and have them mailed by Monday. I was finished and here's what got mailed out:

A sock wars card, some Werther's chocolate and the socks. They are the Air Raid pattern and knit of Reynold's Soft Sea Wool. I think they turned out very well and were very hard to send away.
Once I got them mailed I had to wait for the Socks in Progress or SIPs. Since I had to wait, now you get to wait. I'll tell you about them later.

In Absentia

Hi all. I'm so sorry that I've been MIA. I swear I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just been SUPER busy. I've been working a lot and had very little knitting time. Plus, I may have a slight addiction to World of Warcraft. shhhh.
Then last weekend was my brother's wedding which my mom and I did all the food for. Eeep that was a lot of work. Fun but a lot of work.

So, I'm off to knit some socks. Then tomorrow, I'll try to remember to talk about Sock Wars.